Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images.
Got $8,000 to spare? Maybe you can put on Prince’s jacket next time you go riding on your motorcycle.
A California auction house is offering a black-and-white motorcycle jacket that Prince wore in his 1984 film Purple Rain, the Associated Press reports. The seller’s sister received it as a gift from the megastar after working on the film as a makeup artist.
Profiles in History, in Calabasas, has tagged this bit of musical and cinematic history at just $6,000 to $8,000. The auction, oddly titled “Hollywood Auction 83,” happens over three days, from June 29 to July 1.
“Prince memorabilia in general, it just really doesn’t exist,” said the auction house’s president, Jo Maddalena. “It seems like he controlled it all. This is the first time ever for something like this, and it might be the only time because the rest of the costumes may be in his (personal) wardrobe.”
The album cover for Prince’s Purple Rain (1984).
The quasi-autobiographical film constituted the musician’s acting debut and was directed by Albert Magnoli, who also served for a time as Prince’s manager. Prince plays “the Kid,” the frontman for a Minneapolis band called the Revolution, which performs timeless tunes like “When Doves Cry” and “I Would Die 4 U” in addition to the beloved title track. The film won an Academy Award for best original song score and grossed more than $68 million in the US alone. Prince then directed the 1990 sequel, Graffiti Bridge.
The iconic musician died at his Minneapolis estate last Thursday; since then, his brother-in-law, Maurice Phillips, has vowed to transform that $6.6-million estate, dubbed Paisley Park, into a museum for fans.
If you can’t wait to snag some Hollywood memorabilia, though, you can also check out a Hunger Games–themed auction, scheduled for May 20, also at Profiles in History.